


Spirit Bound (A Bnha x Fatal Frame Crossover Fic)

by TheVampiresRose



Category: Zero | Fatal Frame, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Quirks (My Hero Academia), Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Gen, Ghosts, Horror, I'm Serious About The Major Character Death Be Warned, I'm bad at writing, Modern times, Platonic Relationships, Psychological Horror, Will update tags if needed, characters might be ooc at times, human sacrifices, idk - Freeform, it's fine, maybe? - Freeform, no beta we die like men, totally didnt steal elements from Fatal Frame 2
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:41:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24654007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheVampiresRose/pseuds/TheVampiresRose
Summary: What was supposed to be a regular school field trip turns into a fight for survival when Deku, Bakugou, Todoroki, and Kirishima find themselves trapped in an abandoned town rumored to be haunted and cursed. As they navigate through the fog-heavy streets and empty houses they learn of dark rituals that taint the town's past leading to the town's abandonment. All while fighting off violent ghosts that seem to appear around every corner with they're only means of defense is a single camera called the Camera Obscura(I'm bad at summaries I apologize XD)
Relationships: Bakugou Katsuki & Kirishima Eijirou, Bakugou Katsuki & Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki & Todoroki Shouto, Kirishima Eijirou & Midoriya Izuku, Kirishima Eijirou & Todoroki Shouto, Midoriya Izuku & Todoroki Shouto
Comments: 5
Kudos: 14





	1. Broken Down

**Author's Note:**

> I'm stupidly nervous about posting this cause I know I'm not a very good writer but hopefully someone will get some enjoyment out of this XD Also I want to state that while I love shipping as much as the next person all relationships in this fic are strictly platonic. I want this fic to be able to be enjoyed by anyone who reads it no matter their ships. Also I have A LOT of story ideas going on in my head right now so idk when this will get updated, but I'll try to update it as soon as possible. Welp I guess enjoy! Or don't? Idk I'm tired.
> 
> Edit 11/23/2020 -
> 
> Finally done with rewrites of the first two chapters. While I think they're better I still think they're pretty bad, but I've come to accept I'll probably never be 100% happy with my writing. I'll post the rewrite of the second chapter sometime later on this week and then post an all new chapter!

Izuku knew his eyes were opened, yet for some reason he couldn't see out of them. His vision was spotty at best and when he strained his eyes trying to force his sight to return dark spots danced across his view making the painful throbbing in his skull worse. He had enough self-awareness to realize he was lying on his back possibly on the floor if the hard surface was any indication. An attempt was made to push himself up, but the sharp ache and jolt that ran through his body forced him to stop. A strangled groan escaped his lips as he laid his head back down and closed his eyes.

Grinding his teeth together, tears gathered around the corner of his eyes. The pain running throughout his entire being was so intense it was borderline unbearable. His body felt heavy like someone had dropped an absurd amount of weight on top of his petite frame and his head was throbbing like something was desperately trying to free itself by ramming it against his temple over and over again. He racked his tired brain, but couldn't recall anything he did to warrant all this agony.

Several minutes passed before he opened his eyes again. The darkness obscuring his vision was beginning to fade as a bare tan ceiling slowly came into focus. Wait _bare?_ Why was his ceiling bare? What happened to the poster of his favorite comic book character All Might? He spent so much time getting it up there and nearly broke his neck too! It couldn’t have fallen off in the middle of the night; he would have felt it fall on him. His mother couldn’t have taken it; she was shorter then he was, plus she had no reason to. 

Frowning, Izuku shifted his head to the side, blinking out the haze that was making his eyesight blurry until he could make out various shapes and objects in his room. Only they were shapes and objects he wasn't familiar with. Shapes and objects he didn't own.

It took a moment for him to realize that this wasn’t his room. 

Sucking in a harsh breath, Izuku scrambled clumsily to his feet, pain be damned. Frantically his wide green eyes scanned every inch of the room he was in, noting every little detail.

The room was an okay size, decked out head to toe in a traditional Japanese style. Next to him was a futon sprawled out in the middle of the floor, though why he had been lying _next_ to it and not on it he didn’t know. 

Other than that the room was relatively empty. It was also pretty dark, Izuku realized, the only source of light came from a small candle resting upon a table in the back.

Yeah, this _definitely_ wasn't his bedroom, which begged the question where the heck was he and how did he get here?

The last thing he remembered was saying goodbye to his mom before heading to school this morning.

Izuku hugged himself, balling the fabric of his long sleeves into tight fists, then froze. 

Long sleeves? No, he...he knew he put on a short sleeved shirt today after his mother had warned him about a heat wave predicted to hit later in the day. He held his hands up to his face and was horrified to see long and rather large white sleeves hanging off his thin arms. Without a mirror to look at, he had no choice, but to pat himself down and confirm that he wasn't wearing the faded blue t-shirt and pair of old denim jeans he had randomly thrown on in his haste to get out the door as quickly as possible so he wouldn’t run the risk of running late to school again. No, instead, he found a pure white yukata hugging his small frame.

Panic welled up in his chest while his mind unhelpfully ran a mile a minute with question after question. What was going on? Where in the world was he? Had he been kidnapped? Why did they change him out of his clothes and into a yukata of all things? Oh, God was his mom okay? Was she worried? Did she even know he hadn't made it to school? Had the police been alerted of his absence? Oh god, what if they hadn’t or worse, what if they had, but didn't care enough to look for him?”

 _Stop it!_ He mentally scolded himself, forcing himself to breathe, nothing good will come from you freaking out. _Take a deep breath and think about this logically._

Slowly he inhaled through his nose and exhaled out his mouth and repeated this routine a few more times until the panic subsided. Right. Okay. It was fine. He was fine. He couldn't let himself have a mental breakdown right now, it would only hinder him. Right now his main focus should be on figuring out where he was and how he got here.

_First and foremost try the door and see if it’s unlocked. It’s probably a long shot, but it doesn’t hurt to try._

Nervously, Izuku shuffled towards his only exit and reached a trembling hand out, gingerly wrapping his palm and fingers around the knob and twisted. To his utter shock the door actually opened, though he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

It was completely possible that his potential kidnapper was absent minded and had simply forgotten to the lock the door, but there was also a high chance that they were completely confident that it didn't matter if they locked the door or not, knowing Izuku wouldn't be able to find his way home even if he did manage to escape. They could be far up in the mountains or in the middle of a desert, cut off from the rest of civilization for all he knew. Either way this very well could have been his only chance at freedom and he wasn't going to waste it.

Surprisingly the door didn’t creak or make as much noise like he thought it would, thank the Gods. Steadily, he pushed it open just wide enough to poke his out and take a quick look around.

From what he could tell he was in some kind of narrowed hallway, barely lit up by multiple candles lining the walls, not a single window in sight. To his left the corridor stretched out into utter darkness, a foreboding feeling swept over him as if warning him to not go down that way which was more than fine with him. The only other way to go was his right and already he had a better feeling about this path since for one he could actually see the end albeit barely and two he could see another door that looked promising.

Decision made, Izuku pushed open the door a little bit more and slipped through the gap trying to make as little noise as possible, then softly shut the door behind him.

Heart hammering against his ribcage, the small teen ever so gently tiptoed along the wood flooring with both hands caressing the wall, keeping himself as close as possible for support in case his body decided to give out on him, reminding him of how much pain he was in. Halfway to his destination and hopefully his exit he paused and shot his head up, he could hear something. It was a bit quiet and muffled, but the more he listened the more he could make out the sound of someone.....crying?

Someone else was here and from the sounds of it they were right behind the door he was currently stalking towards. Could it have been his kidnapper? But then why would they be crying? Was it possible this was someone like him? Another innocent that had been wrongfully taken? If that were the case there was no way Izuku could just leave them here. Strength in numbers and everything right? 

Normally Izuku would have been more cautious in this type of situation, but the pain and exhaustion was currently overriding his body, clouding his judgement and he desperately wanted someone to connect with. Things would be way less scary with someone else going through this with him. Plus he was a naturally trusting person, it wasn't in his nature to ignore someone possibly in trouble.

Closer to the door now, Izku could see out of the corner of his eye another dark hallway off to the side that he hadn't noticed before. Tilting his head to the side, he squinted his eyes, but couldn't make anything out. It was pitch black like the one behind him had been. There was no feeling of dread welling inside his chest like the other hallway but something whispered in the back of mind that he wasn't meant to go down there just yet, maybe after he confronted and/or comforted whoever was on the other side of this door. For now whatever was down there would have to wait.

Heedfully Izuku approached the wooden frame and paused. Pitiful muffled cries of a girl could be heard from the other side as clear as day. His heart clenched at the familiar sound, knowing all too well what it was like to suffer alone in silence. Gently Izuku laid his hand on the scratchy frame followed by his forehead. Closing his eyes, he listened as the girl inside hiccuped every now and then between her heavy sobbing.

He truly felt sorry for her. She sounded so scared and sad that it tugged at parts of Izuku’s heart he didn't know he had. No one should have to sound like that.

“I don’t want to do it,” he heard her whimper, her soft voice sounded scratchy and strained, like she had been crying for a long time.

Izuku frowned at that. Didn’t want to do what? Was she actually a kidnapping victim like him and was being forced to do something by their captor? Well, he figured now was a good time to find out.

Before he could convince himself otherwise, Izuku reached down, took the doorknob in his hand and guided the door open a couple of inches so he could peek inside without alerting the girl to his presence just in case he had been wrong in his assumption about her.

From what he could see through the crack in the door, it was another bedroom, almost an exact copy of his but more personalized with flowers and paintings covering almost every inch of the walls. In the corner he spotted a beautiful oval shaped stand up mirror. Another hiccup drew his attention to the middle of the room. Huddled on the floor was a girl with her back turned to him, her long white and gray hair draped over a red kimono.

“I don’t-I can’t do it,” the girl mewled, her shoulders shook, “Not to him. Anyone but him!”

Crap, she was getting hysterical. He should probably try and help her calm down.

Sucking in a deep breath, Izuku pushed the door open, fully revealing himself and cringed at the loud squeak the door made, yet the girl didn’t seem to notice the noise over her own weeping. He thought about walking up to her and putting a hand on her shoulder, then ask her if she was okay, but quickly decided against it. She was already frantic, the last thing he wanted to do was upset and scare her even more.

So with a silent gulp Izuku opened his mouth preparing to call out to her and announce his arrival, but when he spoke he went rigid.

“Saisei?” a male voice, one that wasn't his own said.

As she sucked in a breath, the girl’s body tensed, her head shot up. Time seemed to slow to a crawl when she began to turn and look over her shoulder at him. Izuku, however, would not get to see her face as another voice called his name, and suddenly he was pulled into a darkness that engulfed his entire being, leaving the girl to fade from his sight.

“Midoriya.”

Izuku’s eyes widened, his body involuntarily jerked itself forward until he smacked something hard face first, forcing a pained whine from the young boy.

“Are you alright?” a deep voice asked from beside him.

With a moan, Izuku leaned back against his seat, rubbing his now throbbing nose at the newfound pain. He opened his eyes about halfway and turned to his friend Shouto Todoroki with a half smile, “Yeah, sorry. You just scared me is all.”

The half white and half redhaired boy blinked, “My apologies, but you did ask me to wake you as we got closer to the hotel.”

“Hotel?” Izuku echoed confused, ”What hotel?”

“The Watanabe Hotel. The one our class is staying in for our trip.” Todoroki said matter of factly.

 _Oooohhhh_ , that’s right. Izuku remembered now, the last traces of sleep leaving his mind.

He breathed a sigh of relief and fully leaned back in his seat, content with the knowledge that he in fact had not been kidnapped and trapped in a dark, creepy house and was instead looking out the window of the fancy charter bus he and his friends were currently on, watching as a wad of trees breezed by. It was oddly foggy out, he noticed. Then again it had started to rain before he drifted off, so it wasn't that strange when he really thought about it.

Despite the exhaustion that still hung over him like a dark cloud, Izuku’s mind buzzed with excitement. He and his classmates had been looking forward to this trip all year and now that it was finally happening he couldn’t stop running through his mental checklist of all the things he wanted to do and see at the highly acclaimed resort their class would be staying at for the next five days.

It was all still so surreal to think about. Not just the trip, but the fact that Izuku had actually spent a whole year at the top ranked and most difficult to get into school in the entire country. He made so many amazing friends this year, and he was ten times happier now then he had been in middle school.

Unpleasant memories of ugly laughter and venom ridden insults flashed through his mind at the thought of that cursed building. He shook his head free of the sudden blast from the past, but still found himself looking beyond Todoroki to the seat opposite of them where a redhead by the name of Eijiro Kirishima sat with his head resting against the back of his seat snoring away completely dead to the world. Next to him a wild head of blonde hair stared out the window like Izuku had been moments ago with a pair of headphones in, completely ignoring the multiple voices and conversations surrounding them.

Just looking at Kacchan or well Katsuki Bakugou made Izuku's heart ache. As if feeling his stare, piercing red eyes snapped to him making Izuku quickly turn away before he got yelled at by his childhood friend for staring and went back to watching his own window.

"Are you alright?" Todoroki questioned.

"Huh?" Izuku said dumbly, turning to meet a pair of blue and grey eyes.

"You made that sigh you usually make when you're thinking about something that upsets you."

Izuku blinked at that with his mouth agape. Did he really do that? He never noticed. He rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish grin, "N-No I'm fine thank you, though."

Todoroki frowned, clearly not buying Izuku's lie, "Are you sure?" he pressed.

"Y-Yeah. I was just....thinking about the weird dream I had before you woke me up," He fibbed, waving off his friend's concern.

Todoroki looked at the green haired boy contemplatively, "You were twitching as you slept," he commented, "Was it a bad dream?"

Izuku thought about that for a moment, "Not....really? I mean it was unsettling for sure, but nothing bad really happened?"

"I see. You would like to talk about it?" Todorki asked politely.

Izuku smiled softly, a slight blush rising to meet his cheeks "T-Thank you, but I'm fine. It was bizarre for sure, but I don't think it's anything worth talking about," He said hastily.

Todorki didn't reply as his hyperchromatic eyes searched his face, probably looking for any more signs that Izuku was lying, making Izuku break out in a nervous sweat. Thankfully he seemed to pass the tell test because he didn't press the issue any further and nodded before looking back at his phone.

Izuku let out the quietest sigh of relief he's ever made. Without meaning to, he let his eyes roam back over to Kacchan who was back to staring out his window, but Izuku noticed he no longer had his headphones in. Huh, his phone must have died. Izuku would be more than happy to offer up his own phone so he could keep listening to his music, at least until they got to the hotel, but he knew better than to try to do anything nice for the hostile teenager. Kacchan would just yell at him to mind his own business among other things.

It hadn’t always been so bad between the two of them. Izuku could recall tons of fond childhood memories of the two running through the little forest beside their elementary school, chasing bugs and pretending to be their favorite heroes from the various comic books they read together. If Izuku had to pinpoint the exact time frame of when things started shifting in their relationship, he would have to guess late elementary school to early middle school. Around that time Kacchan gradually began to really distance himself from Izuku. He no longer sat with him at lunch; they no longer hung out together at each other's houses, and what was once light friendly teasing turned into full on insults and straight up bullying. The boy who Izuku used to look up to and admire the most turned from his best friend to his worst tormenter and helped contribute to the worst three years of Izuku’s life and the worst part was he never knew why. To this day he still couldn't figure out what he did to make Kacchan start acting that way towards him.

Things had started getting better recently, sure. Izuku couldn't deny that. Something had finally broken the straw on the camel's back between them, and the two had gotten into a full on fist fight in the old gym they should of definitely not have been in and they got three days of indoor suspension for it, but it had been more than worth it. Because after years, _years_ , built up frustrations, pent up feelings and long buried pain were finally laid out on the surface. Not everything, some things were still left unsaid on both their parts, but enough for now. Kacchan never apologized and Izuku still didn’t get the answer to what caused this whole thing and part of him knew he probably never would, but that night had changed the way they interacted with each other.

They still weren't friends by any means, but they could be in the same room now without Kacchan trying to lunge at him. They could be civil with each other and have brief conversations without it breaking out into a fight. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a start. Izuku knew things would never go back to the way they were when they were kids, but that small part of him still couldn't let go of that false hope, no matter how many times he tried, he was too stubborn too. Funny enough that seemed to be the one trait both he and Kacchan shared.

“Is there a reason you’ve been staring so intently at Bakugou for the past five minutes, muttering to yourself?” Todoroki inquired without looking up from his phone.

Immediately Izuku slapped his hands over his traitorous mouth, his face turning a dark shade of red. He jerked his head forward and threw his gaze to the floor where his yellow backpack sat comfortably between his signature red sneakers.

Gods had he really said all of that out loud while blatantly staring at Kacchan?! Could he have looked anymore like a complete creep?!

“Your face is almost as red as Kirishima’s hair,” Todoroki observed.

Groaning, Izuku completely buried his face into his hands, pulled his feet up onto the seat and up to his chest, wanting to be as small as possible, grumbling about Todoroki pointing out such embarrassing things.

The sound of a slight chuckle made his ears perk up. Izuku moved his pointer and middle fingers apart and felt his heart flip.

The boy next to him was still facing away from him, his eyes locked onto his screen, but the corners of his lips were pulled into a rare smile. Todoroki was really cute when he smiled.

Right as the thought entered his mind, Todoroki looked right at him, eyes wide with a dumbfounded look on his face. It was then that Izuku realized too late that once again the filter between his mind and mouth failed him and he had said that ‘Todoroki looked cute when he smiled’ out loud.

Izuku snapped his fingers shut and curled into himself, “Now would be a great time for some random hole to appear and dump me on the side of the road,” he whined, his voice muffled by his hands.

“I doubt Aizawa-sensei would be too pleased about having to turn the bus around and come get you,” Todorki said, sounding amused.

“I mean, I won't tell anyone if you don’t,” Izuku only half joked, dropping his hands to wrap around his legs as he rested his chin on his knees.

Todoroki’s only response to that was to reach over and flick Izuku smack dab in the middle of his forehead.

“Hey!” Izuku squeaked, rubbing the spot that had been assaulted, then turned to his assailant with a pout and was once again met with that adorable smile.

Instead of getting flustered and hiding himself away like last time Izuku smiled back at his friend softly.

Their little moment was quickly ruined by a loud pop at the front of the bus causing several students along with Izuku to jump and snap their attention forward, even Kirhsima was stirred from his slumber and that kid could sleep through almost anything.

As the bus pulled over to the side of the road and steadily slowed till it came to a complete stop, Izuku stretched his neck up to see what was happening, but as luck would have it the seat before him was a tad too tall for him to properly see over.

Multiple curses that could rival even Kacchan could be heard up front from the bus driver. Their homeroom teacher Aizawa barked orders for everyone to stay put while he and the driver tried to figure out what happened then promptly stomped out of the vehicle. Confused and concerned murmurs quickly swept over the students.

“That didn’t sound good.”

“No kidding! That totally scared the crap out of me!”

“Do you think the bus just ran out of gas maybe?”

“Why would there be a loud pop like that, though, if it was just the gas?”

“I hope we’re not stranded.”

“Dude, don't say that! That’s how horror movies start!”

“I vote we sacrifice Mineta first.”

“Agreed.”

“I second that.”

“What the hell?! Why?!”

“Do you even have to ask?”

Todoroki snorted and muttered something along the lines of “wish my father were here so we could sacrifice him instead.”

Izuku couldn't help but laugh a little bit and shake his head at his classmates' antics.

Across the way Kirishima yawned and stretched his arms above his head, sleepy tears gathered in the corner of his eyes. With a satisfied pop of his shoulders, he rolled his arms in small circles then turned towards Izuku and Todoroki, his words slurred as another yawn interrupted him, “Any idea what happened?”

Iuzku shook his head while Todoroki shrugged.

After five long minutes of nervous and anxious chatter, a grunt could be heard as someone climbed back up and onto the bus.

“Alright, listen up,” Aizawa’s deep voice commanded before the group of freshmen could hound him with questions, “unfortunately the bus has broken down.”

A mix of gaps, groans and a few “I told you so”s met Izuku’s ears as his shoulders slumped. He gently rubbed the center of his forehead where Todoroki had flicked him earlier a headache starting to form. That was the exact opposite of what they all wanted to hear.

“We’re gonna try to figure out the problem and get the bus moving again as soon as possible, but there’s no telling how long that’s gonna take so don’t get your hopes up,” Aizawa grunted, sounding just as tired as Izuku felt. Though that wasn't anything new for his teacher since he always seemed to be tired, “For now you’re free to get off and stretch your legs, but do not under any circumstances wander off or there will be consciousness,” Aizawa warned sternly, “Am I clear?”

Izuku bit his lip and ducked his head as he muttered, “Yes, Sensei,” along with the rest of his classmates feeling Aizawa’s black eyes glaring at his row. His teacher did call him, Todoroki, Kacchan, and Kirishima his ‘problem children’ for a reason after all.

Class 1-A was more than happy to leave the claustrophobic and mind numbing atmosphere behind as they all shuffled off the bus one by one, hopping down the steps and onto solid, stationary ground, stretching, joking, and laughing with one another all the while.

Although Izuku and Todoroki were seated in the heart of the steel metal death trap that was their ride they were the last ones to depart. Izuku was especially careful as he took that last step off the bus, not wanting a repeat of this morning when he fell going up the far too tall and steep stairs. Todoroki, the good friend he was, was standing off to the side just in case Izuku’s foot for whatever reason decided that no it didn't want to work today thanks and caused him to plummet to the ground.

Izuku’s legs shook a bit as he took that final step, but once he was sure both feet were firmly planted on the ground and not plotting against him, he and Todoroki made their way over to where Iida, Tsuyu and Uraraka had gathered.

A round face with rosy cheeks greeted them with a wide and cheery smile as they approached.

“Hey guys!” Uraraka chirped, “How was your ride?”

Todorki gave a blunt alright. 

Izuku scoffed in fake offense and asked if their time together annoyed him that much. 

Oblivious as ever, the friendly tease went straight over Todoroki's head as he was quick to defend himself and apologize to Izuku and assure him that that wasn't what he meant at all, making the group laugh. Todoroki looked at them blankly, confused. Izuku touched his arm and informed the poor boy that he was only joking.

"Regardless, it couldn't have been any worse then mine," Tsuyu huffed, "I almost threw Mineta out the window multiple times."

Uraraka gently patted her friend's shoulder while offering a sympathetic smile.

Iida frowned and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "Last I checked the seating arrangements were supposed to have the boys and girls sitting separately to prevent this sort of problem. I don't know how you ended up being seated next to him, Tsuyu, but this was an obvious oversight on my part." Like a robot he snapped into a straight and rigid position with his arms tugged at his sides then bowed, "Please forgive my lack of diligence."

"It's alright Iida, I know you would never sit me with him on purpose," Tsuyu assured, "and please call me Tsu."

Iida replied with something that Izuku didn't quite hear having zoned out of the conversation to take in their surroundings. On either side of the road were nothing but trees, trees, and more trees as far as the eye could see which wasn't much with the fog that was currently hanging over them, leaving the sky and everywhere else grey and ominous. The smell of past rain and evening dew clung to the air.

It was unsettling to say the least, having their bus break down in what felt like the middle of nowhere. It really didn't help that the sun would most likely be setting soon. Izuku really hoped the bus would be fixed before it got too dark.

Instinctively he moved closer to Todoroki at the thought and tuned back into his friend's chat just in time to hear a high pitched, "Awww man!"

"W-What's wrong?" he asked, concerned.

Dejected Uraraka looked up from her flip phone, "There's no cell reception," she sighed.

Izuku's heart skipped at her words. Frantically he shoved his hand down his back pocket and fished out his own phone and tapped the screen. It lit up instantly with the time and current temperature over his background picture which was currently the best comic book character ever in his humble opinion All Might. In the right corner by the battery icon Izuku gloomy found Uraraka was right, he had absolutely zero bars.

Crap. It had been awhile since he last called and checked in with his mom. They last talked at this cute little American style diner on the side of the road where they enjoyed a nice dinner while the bus went to go fill up on gas. Izuku had to reassure her multiple times that yes he was doing fine and having a blast with his friends so far and that he would call her again as soon as they reached the hotel. That had been four hours ago. After ten minutes of being back out onto the road there had been a pretty nasty accident that caused an unexpected detour through this insanely large forest. She was probably getting concerned.

"Don't worry," Todoroki whispered beside him, "I'm sure they'll figure out what's wrong with the bus soon and you'll get to call her again."

You know what, maybe this fog wasn't all that bad, after all it was hiding Izuku's beet red face. Gods why was he like this?

It was crazy how good his friends had gotten at reading him this past year, then again he didn't really make it all that difficult. The boy was too in tune with his emotions for his own good and in turn made him an open book.

After throwing Todoroki a thankful smile, the conversation was once again continued without him, though he didn’t really mind. Izuku was too occupied with checking his phone repeatedly, searching for any signal, but gave up after the tenth hundredth time and placed the device back in his pocket.

Loud and slightly obnoxious laughter drew his attention forward. Past his group of friends, he could just barely make out the self-proclaimed ‘bakudqaud’ through the thick fog.

Ashido stood, leaning against the bus with a huge grin on her face, her hands behind her back with Sero standing beside her, his head thrown back in laughter. Kaminari and Kirshima sat crossed legged on the ground in front of them, curled over and laughing so hard it almost looked like they were going to pass out.

Izuku couldn't stop the small smile that formed. He was glad that Kacchan finally got some good friends instead of the followers he had back in middle school, even if 'they forced their friendship on him' as he liked to claim. If he was really that bothered with their presence he wouldn't have put up with them for this long. Actually now that Izuku thought about it, where was Kacchan?

His smile dropped, realizing the group's namesake was nowhere to be seen.


	2. An Unexpected Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kacchan's gone, so what does Izuku do? Tell his teacher and let him handle it? Now why would he do that when he can freak out and go find him himself? Cause that can only end well right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: I'll post the chapter 2 rewrite sometime later this week!
> 
> Also Me: *posts it literally the next day*
> 
> I really said "self control who?"

That all too familiar feeling of panic bubbled up inside of Izuku’s chest. His heart stopped as he frantically looked around, but found Kacchan was nowhere in sight. An overwhelming sense of dread poured over him like pouring rain. He sneaked a glance towards the front of the bus where Aizawa stood off to the side, watching their driver intently with dark black eyes. Looks like he hadn't noticed his most explosive student’s absence yet.

Izuku let out an annoyed huff. Leave it to Kacchan to completely ignore their teacher’s warning and risk whatever twisted punishment Aizawa probably had waiting for anybody who dared slipped up even once while they were on this trip.

Still as annoyed as Izuku was he couldn't help the small pangs of worry that snacked it’s way into his brain. He glanced at the forest where the fog somehow managed to look more dense and intimidating almost like a warning to stay out of it. Could Kacchan have gone in there?

Paranoid Izuku decided to slip away from his group of friends while they continued to chat among themselves and made his way over to the bakusqaud.

Ashido was the first to notice him, her smile growing wider as he approached, “Hey Mido!” she called with an exaggerated wave, drawing the other’s attention towards him as well.

“What’s up dude?” Kirishima greeted with a shark-toothed grin.

“U--Um, h-hey” Izuku stuttered, shyly looking at his feet.

It was true that hold habits die hard. Izuku had known these guys for a year, yet he couldn’t help but feel a bit apprehensive around them. They were Kacchan’s friends after all, and Izuku hasn't had the best experience with Kacchan’s associates in the past. Honestly, Izuku wouldn’t be surprised if there was some unsolved trauma there, but that was a can of worms for another day.

Izuku coughed into his fist and glanced back up at the group, deciding to get straight to the point, “Can I ask where Kacchan is?”

Kaminari threw his thumb over his shoulder and pointed towards the woods, confirming Izuku’s fears, “Said he had to and I quote ‘take a breather and get away from our dumbasses before he lost any more brain cells’”.

The other’s snickered at Kaminari’s poor impression of their hotheaded friend.

Kirishima was the first to sober up as a contemplative look fell over his features. He twisted around from where he sat and looked towards the cluster of trees, “He has been gone a while, though.”

A chill ran through Izuku’s body.

“He’s probably just using the bathroom or something,” Sero said with a dismissive shrug.

“Yeah….” Kirishima muttered, turning back around.

Their banter faded into the background. Izuku stared into the woods, his emerald green eyes searching for any kind of movement or signs of life. There was this terrible feeling in his gut, like something awful was about to happen if he didn’t go find Kacchan right now and bring him back.

“I’m gonna go look for Kacchan,” he blutered to Kirishima before his legs carried him into the woods without his permission as if they were possessed. He didn't even bother to look back and see if Aizawa was watching or not.

It didn’t matter. He had to find Kacchan. He had to get him out of here. He chanted the words in his head like a mantra. His body on full audio pilot, this unfounded fear carried him through the fog that seemed to grow heavier with each step he took. With pure tunnel vision, Izuku wandered deeper into the forest, looking in every direction for anything other than the multiple trees that surrounded and towered over him with no luck. The blonde was nowhere in sight.

By the time the clouds in Izuku’s brain started to clear and he came back to his senses it was too late. Helplessly he looked around and found he had no idea where he was. He wanted to smack himself for being so stupid, what the hell had he been thinking?! Kacchan was probably fine and already back with the others meanwhile his sorry butt was lost in the middle of some random woods with no way to call for help! Gods, he was probably going to get into so much trouble when Aizawa realized he was gone-

Something moved in the corner of his eye, interrupting his mental rant. He turned just in time to see a figure shadowed by the fog walk away from him.

“Kacchan!” He called happily, relief flooding through him.

He expected his friend — _classmate_ — to whirl around and ask or more like demand in that gruff, annoyed voice of his what Izuku was doing out there, followed by some threat or insult.

What Izuku didn’t expect was for Kacchan to completely ignore him and walk further away, the fog swallowing and obscuring him more. He didn’t even turn around and acknowledge the other boy.

“Kacchan?” Izuku questioned, his brows furrowed together in confusion.

In fear of losing sight of the other older boy, Izuku started jogging then broke out into a full on sprint to catch up with his ex-childhood friend. He tried calling out to the boy multiple times, but not once did he get a response.

This was bizarre. Kacchan never missed an opportunity to yell at Izuku for something stupid, especially in a place like this where there was no one to scold him for it. Something was clearly wrong.

Surprisingly Izuku managed to catch up pretty quickly, the figure ahead growing closer and more coherent with every step until they abruptly stopped.

A couple feet away Izuku hunched over and placed his hands on his knees, breathing heavily, “K-Kacchan,” he choked out, “What-” his voice died in his throat as he looked up with eyes so wide they could have easily been mistaken for bowling balls.

Now that he was close enough he could see more clearly that this person he had been chasing wasn't Kacchan. They stood with their back facing him, snow white hair splayed over a bright red kimono and green obi.

It was her. The girl from his dream.

If Izuku had any sense of self-preservation, he would turn and run for the hills, but no matter how much he screamed at his nerves to let him move, he remained still. It was like someone had nailed his feet to the ground.

An odd sense of deja-vu hit him as the girl’s head gradually turned to face him. He sucked in a breath, his heart hammering away in his chest.

“Deku?”

A pathetic yelp erupted from Izuku’s throat, whirling around he found the source of all his current problems staring him in the face with furious crimson eyes.

“Kacchan?” He flinched at how small his voice sounded.

“What the hell are you doing out here you stupid nerd?” Kacchan sneered at him.

Gods, if that phrase wasn't music to his ears. He never thought he’d be so thrilled to be insulted by his childhood bully.

“I-” Izuku started, but paused and glanced over his shoulder nervously.

The girl was gone cause of course she was. She wasn't real, she had never been. He was probably still tired, and his brain conjured her up as an illusion to mess with him. The minute they got to the hotel he was going to flop into his bed, promptly pass out and catch up on the sleep he clearly needed.

Izuku faced the irritated blonde with a weak smile, shoulders dropping as his body released all the tension that had been building for the past minute or so, “I was looking for you.”

Expecting that answer Kacchan rolled his eyes, “Dumbass,” he snorted. “I don't need a fucking babysitter.”

“That’s not-” Izuku tried, desperate to explain his reasoning though he wasn't really sure what to say. How was he supposed to explain the unfounded worry that spread through his entire being when he heard Kacchan had wandered into these woods all by himself or that primal instinct that controlled his musicals and made him blindly run after the boy when Izuku couldn’t decipher it to himself?

In the end it didn’t matter because Kacchan was having none of it, “Save it. I don’t care,” he waved the young boy off. “Just come on before Aizawa notices we’re gone and we get another damn lecture.”

Izuku sagged in defeat and trailed behind Kacchan without another word, his head low and his eyes glued to the ground. After the first couple of steps, he straightened and anxiously peered over his shoulder once more at the spot where he thought the girl had been standing half expecting her to be there again, but she wasn't. The spot remained unoccupied without a single shred of grass out of place.

Content, Izuku dashed forward to catch up with Kacchan before he lost him again.

It was eerily silent as the two walked along the forest floor, Kacchan walking a couple of feet ahead. Izuku knew if even dared try to walk beside him, the angry blonde would yell and possibly shove him to the ground, so Izuku safely kept his distance.

They couldn’t have been walking for very long after they met up, maybe like five minutes tops, but it was way too quiet for Izuku’s liking.

Actually now that he thought about not once since he had gotten off the bus had he heard a single sound you would expect to hear being this close to nature. Not a single bird chirping, or rustle of branches and leaves shaking had met Izuku's ears. Heck there wasn't even a crunch beneath their feet as they walked. It felt so unnatural, so wrong.

Time and again Izuku opened his mouth to say something, _anything_ , to fill the void, but each and every time a word was close to the tip of tongue it up and died on the spot mere seconds later. Silently, he cursed his cowardliness.

But really what did he expect? This was how it always was with them.

Downcast green irises followed Kacchan’s feet as Izuku dragged his own. He bit his lip and rubbed the back of his neck, racking his brain for some kind of topic of conversation. There had to be something that wouldn’t get his head immediately bitten off. Actually at this point Izuku almost preferred to get yelled at and hear the classic line, “shut up you stupid shitty nerd.” It would surely help stop his nerves from eating away at him with every heavy step he took and distract him from his wandering thoughts at the very least.

Seriously Kacchan had to be feeling it too right? That uneasy feeling, that followed close behind them, creeping up behind their backs like a monster ready to strike. The stillness in the air that threatened to strangle Izuku until he turned blue at any given second. The feeling of being watched by some unknown force.

Maybe Izuku was just being paranoid. After all Kacchan was marching along with his head held high and his hands shoved in his jean’s pockets without a single care in the world like always.

Internally Izuku groaned and rubbed his eyes. He was so stupidly tired and his headache from earlier was coming back with a vengeance. Once they got back to the bus, if they somehow managed to avoid getting chewed out by Aizawa he could slip back into his seat and try to nap until they got the bus fixed, or better yet maybe the bus would already be repaired and they could be on their way!

Yeah, as if he were that lucky.

Too preoccupied with his thoughts, Izuku ran straight into Kacchan’s back, not noticing the boy’s abrupt stop. Startled, Izuku jumped back ready to sputter out an apology before the blonde could curse him out, but the taller boy didn’t turn around, much less acknowledge him. He continued to stare straight ahead.

Now that was more terrifying than any threat he could have ever made to the green haired boy.

Confused and obviously concerned by his fr-classmates' odd behavior, Izuku was about to ask what was wrong but stopped when he heard it. Footsteps. Izuku and Kacchan were both standing as still as statues making it impossible to be theirs. The hairs on the back of Izuku’s neck shot up and his eyes widened as he noticed Kacchan’s body tense and his fists tightened until his knuckles turned white, gearing up for some form of confrontation.

“Deku,” Kacchan bit out between clenched teeth, “stay behind me.”

Stunned Izuku could do nothing, but obey the command. He crept as close to the boy as he could. Hesitantly, Izuku peered around Kacchan and choked. Two figures, unrecognizable thanks to the damn fog were approaching them. Izuku hadn’t realized until now how much the fog thicker had gotten since they’ve been in here.

Worried Izuku glanced at Kacchan’s hardened face. This wasn’t good. Izuku was no fighter; he was about as useless as a knife in a gunfight and while Kacchan was more than capable of defending himself, Izuku wasn’t sure if he could fight for both of them if it came down to it. He would never forgive himself if Kacchan got hurt because of him. Maybe he could convince Kaccchan to cut their losses and make a run for it.

Yeah right, this was Kacchan he was talking about.

As if to prove his point Kacchan lifted his chin and shouted, “Who the fucks out there?!”

Izuku felt his heart drop into his stomach as the two figures stopped. Oh, this was not going to end wel-

“Bakubro!” A cheery, familiar voice chirped.

Without waiting for a reply, the nearest figure raced forward red hair and eyes faded into focus, identifying themselves with a shit eating grin. Split colored hair and bored heterochromatic eyes followed close behind.

Dangerously close to collapsing, all the adrenaline in Izuku’s body exported at once, muttering out a ‘thank you’ to up above.

Kacchan seemed to relax a bit as well, but his brow twitched slightly, “The fuck are you doing out here shitty hair?” he grunted.

“Looking for you two duh!” Kirishima laughed halfheartedly, folding his arms behind his head with a carefree smile. “You guys we’re taking forever to get back and Todorki started to worry so we decided to come look for you guys!”

With a look of absolute disdain on his face Kacchan grounded his teeth together, “I don’t need you dipshits looking after me.

“You weren't the only one we were looking for,” Todorki responded cooly, pointy looking at Izuku, “We just wanted to make sure you both were okay.”

“Well, I don't remember fucking ask you too half and half,” Kacchan growled then glared at Izuku from over his shoulder, “Or you, you stupid Deku!”

Izuku flinched, “Why does it bother you so much to have people care about you Kacchan? You should be grateful.” he said before he could stop himself.

Realizing his mistake, Izuku’s eyes widened as he clasped his hands over his stupid big mouth. M-Maybe Izuku got lucky, and Kacchan hadn't heard what he said.

Furious red eyes dangerously narrowed in on him as Kacchan’s lips twisted into a sneer, “You wanna say that again you damn nerd?!”

_Nope he heard. He totally heard. Good job moron! You just signed your own freaking death warrant!_

Gulping, Izuku pulled his hands away and smiled weakly at the manifestation of rage itself, “I-I”m just saying n-not everyone is lucky enough to have people care about them like that y-y’know?” Izuku said his green eyes silently begging for Kacchan to not kill him.

Kacchan stared at him for a few moments before he let out a ‘tech’ and rammed his hands back into his pockets and faced the newcomers.

“Whatever,” he mumbled, shoving past the two almost knocking them both over.

More than used to this sort of thing by now, Kirishima grinned and turned, swiftly catching up with his friend. He said something to the blonde which caused Kacchan to yell something obscene that Izuku would daer never repeat, but Kirishima simply laughed it off like he normally did. He never took anything Kacchan said seriously, so he shrugged and said something Izuku didn't completely catch but whatever it was bad enough to set Kacchan off, cursing and yelling louder than before. If the others back at the bus couldn't hear him by now Izuku would be more than impressed.

Todoroki watched the pair with a hint of amusement in his duel colored eyes before he looked back at Izuku and nodded his head in their direction, “We should probably catch up with them before we witness a murder.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Izuku chuckled following Todoroki.

He tried ignoring the pounding in his head that was steadily getting worse.

Despite the earlier spat between Kacchan and Kirishima things quickly grew quiet again as the four of them strolled through the woodland, though this time it didn’t bother Izuku as much as it did before. He walked at a leisurely pace beside Todoroki who would watch him out of the corner of his eyes every now and then, probably due to the fact Izuku kept rubbing his forehead with a grimace.

He wasn't the only one who seemed to notice, “Hey Midoriya you okay man?” Kirishima asked, looking over his shoulder at the shorter boy with his arms still crossed behind his head.

“Yeah,” Izuku mumbled, rubbing slow circles into his brow, trying to ease the pain, “just a headache.”

There was a snort beside Kirishima, “You are a headache,” Kacchan mumbled under his breath.

Izuku rolled his eyes and then immediately hissed at the fierce pain that followed.

Kirishima met Todoroki’s eyes and both nodded in an unspoken agreement. If Izuku’s head didn’t feel like it was about to split open he would have paused and pondered about the interaction.

Gods how much further did they have to go? It felt like they had been walking for a long time now. Longer than he recalled it taking to go find Kacchan at least.

As if reading his mind, Todoroki echoed his concern,“We should have rejoined the others by now.”

Kirishima hummed, “You know it does feel like we’ve been walking for awhile now.”

“Are we lost?” Izuku blurted out, voice cracking.

“Shut up!” Kacchan ordered without facing them, “We’re not lost dumbass.” He said with the utmost confidence that Izuku knew was fake. He just didn’t want to admit that Izuku was right, and they were hopefully lost.

“Then I assume you know where we are Bakugou?” Todoroki inquired.

“Of course I do!”

“Please inform us then.”

“You wanna go you half and half bastard?!”

"Can we not?" Izuku grumbled, rubbing his temple for the umpteenth time.

Gods he needed an aspirin.

Todoroki eyed him, his lips in a narrow line. He looked as if he was about to say something, but was cut off by Kirishima’s excited shout, “Hey, I think I see something up ahead!”

Izuku lifted his head and strained his eyes, willing them to penetrate the dense fog. He had been hoping to see the large shadow of the bus and maybe hear Aizawa’s gruff voice booming at them, demanding to know where on Earth the four of them had been.

Instead, he stared bewildered at the shadow of an object that he couldn’t identify right off the bat. From what he could tell at a distance, it was much taller than the group of teens and vaguely resembled an ‘H’ only the line you would normally put in between the two vertical lines was placed on top. Really that should have been all Izuku needed to know what he and his friends were cautiously approaching, but his brain was too fried to put two and two together at the moment.

As the four got closer, the fog seemed to part to reveal the structure, as if some giant invisible hand swatted at the fog to disperse like one would do with smoke.

Izuku slowly came to stop and felt his jaw drop, completely dumbfounded now recognizing the mystery object.

Standing before them was none other than a torii or shinto gate. It’s two scarlet beams stood about seven feet apart from one another, near the top another red beam ran vertically through the two horizontal ones with a black lintel resting at the very top.

Out of everything they could have found in these woods, this was the last thing he expected to see.

"Um," Izuku breathed, shattering the stunned silence. He looked at his friends one by one seeing the same bewildered expressions that mirrored his own. "I didn't know there were any shrines or holy places around here."

None of the websites he visited during his extensive research on the resort and the surrounding area mentioned a shrine or any kind of sacred grounds nearby. That seemed like something they would want to promote as those were always really popular with tourists.

"I was unaware of this as well," Todoroki frowned, looking up at the wooden frame.

Kirishima gave a low whistle, as he leaned in closer to get a better look, "Check out all the talismans."

Huh well would you look at that? Kirishima was right, there were indeed many, many talismans lining up and down the gate’s painted columns. They all looked really ragged too, the black writing on each one was far too faded to read. Some were torn at the corners while others were ripped in such a way it looked like someone had come and tried to tear them off completely, but couldn’t get enough of a grip, leaving half or more of the paper behind. Kinda like those really annoying stickers they put on the bottom of mugs and book covers.

What could have possibly happened to make someone think this many talismans were necessary? Izuku didn’t want to stay and find out.

The moment he was about to urge his friends that they should really be heading back to Aizawa and the others Kirishima shouted, “Holy shit guys!” he pointed ahead, gathering everyone’s attention forward.

Beyond the shinto gate the fog again lifted ever so slightly like a knife cutting butter and revealed something, something none of them would have ever guessed was being concealed by the hazy mist.

A river that looked like it could stretch for miles on either side sat with a single narrow bridge that connected to large concrete walls where wooden roofs peeked over the sides. The only visible entrance was a wooden gate gently swaying in the soft breeze.

Izuku gawked completely bug eyed at the sight before him. Had they really just found a town, village or whatever in the middle of the forest? Surely they weren't the first to find this right? Someone else had to have discovered this first, but then why hadn't he found any articles about it online?

This was just too weird. The more he observed the creaks in the walls foundation and the old gate that looked like it could fall off at any second the more the lump in his throat began to grow and swell. His stomach was turning something awful and the head splitting pounding in his temple was the worst it had ever been. It felt like he was being internally pulled apart at the seams. Some unseen force tugged at him, pulling him towards the town as if beckoning him to explore while another forced him back in warning, screaming at him to turn tail now and run for the hills. This whole situation felt so wrong to him.

It was time to go he decided, for once tossing his curiosity to the side and giving the temptation that was calling out to him a hard shove.

He looked towards the group and sucked in a breath when he saw an all too familiar glint in Kirshima's ruby eyes, a wide smile stretched across his face. Oh, that was not a good sign.

"Dude I think I've heard of this place before!" The redhead shouted excitedly, his eyes wide and animated as he turned towards the other three.

"What?" Kacchan scoffed, "How could you possibly know about some old ass looking town in the middle of some random woods?"

"It's because it's an 'old ass looking town in the middle of some random words' that I know!" Kirishima mocked good naturally with a smirk.

Kacchan glared daggers at him, "You have ten seconds to make sense or I'm leaving your sorry ass here," he threatened.

Kirishima hastily flung his hands up in surrender then stood in front of the group, gestured towards the town? Village? Izuku still didn't know, "There's an old story about an abandoned town that lies dormant and untouched in the middle of an unnamed forest rumored to be haunted and cursed," he said his voice lowered a couple of octaves to give it a creepy vibe like you would when telling ghosts stories around a campfire.

Izuku gulped, he already didn't like where this was going.

"To this day no one knows for sure what caused the place to be haunted or cursed, but apparently anyone who tried to settle here in the past was either driven to madness and killed anyone they could find and get their hands on or died from a sudden, unknown illness and their vengeful spirits will trap and kill anyone who dares step foot into the town."

The three teens stared at their friend in contemplative silence. Todorki looked disinterested as always while Kacchan rolled his eyes unimpressed with the tale his friend spun. Izuku, on the other hand, had paled significantly as he played with the hem of his shirt.

He was sure he had never heard this story before and yet for some reason it felt so familiar to him, but he couldnt put his finger on it. Not that it really mattered, that story was just more of a reason for him at least to get the heck away from here. He didn't necessarily believe in ghosts and curses, but why tempt fate right?

Apparently Kirshima didn't agree with that sentiment.

"Oh come on guys!" Kirishima whined, "You don't gotta look at me like that! Who knows when we'll get another chance like this again, we gotta check this place out!"

The very thought made Izuku nauseous.

"How can you be sure this is the same place from your story?" Todoroki questioned, eyebrows raised.

"I'm not saying it is, but come on man how often do you find a deserted town in the middle of the woods? You can't tell me you're not the tiniest bit curious."

Todoroki seemed to contemplate the idea, his eyes darting back and forth between Kirishima and the small wooden bridge.

Oh, no, no, no! Not happening Izuku had to shut this down right now!

"G-Guys!" He finally spoke his head low, hands shaking, "I-I really don't think this is a good idea. Who knows how long we've already been gone. Aizawa or someone has got to have noticed our disappearance by now. We should really get back before we get ourselves in even more trouble." He tried sounding confident, hoping the others hadn't picked up on how frightened he actually was. The last thing he needed right now was for Kacchan to get some bright idea and go along with this stupid plan just to spite and freak him out more.

But much to his and everyone else's suprise the blond grunted, "As much as I really hate to say it I agree with the stupid nerd," he begrudgingly grumbled.

Izuku blinked at him in disbelief. He actually agreed with him?! What parallel universe did he fall into?! You know what, nevermind. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth they say.

"Then it's settled!" Izuku chirped hurriedly, his voice high and his movement shaky as he wrapped his hand around Todoroki's upper arm, pulling back in the direction they had come, "Let's get going then, maybe if we're lucky Aziawa won't expel us!"

Todoroki, residing to his fate, let himself be dragged along by the smaller boy, not even attempting to struggle out of his hold.

"Come on shitty hair!" Kacchan hollered over his shoulder, stomping after them.

“Guys wait!” Kirishima pleaded, “Just a couple of minutes, it won't take us that long! We’ll be back before anyone knows we’re gone I swear!”

 _Sorry, Kiri,_ Izuku thought, _but this place is oozing with bad vibes and I want no part of it._

It was also worth noting the pressure in his skull was beginning to ease up more and more, the further away they got from that strange place. If that wasn't a sign that he made the right choice then he didn’t know what was.

One glance over his shoulder showed Kacchan closely following behind with his eyes forever narrowed and his lips in a permanent scowl. It was his ‘resting bitch face’ as Jiro had so eloquently put it one time. Past him Kirishima stood by the shinto gate stubbornly. Frowning he regarded them walk away with a calculating look on his face.

“Kiri?” Izuku slowed to a stop, forcing Todoroki to halt as well, seeing as his arm was still being held captive.

Kacchan whirled around, fists clenched tightly together, “Shitty hair!” he roared, patience long gone. “What the fuck are you doing?! Let’s go!”

Still the redhead didn’t budge, his eyes flickering back and forth between the three of them with thoughtfulness. Before long his lips twitched and his head tilted to the side curiously, that same glint in his eyes never fading.

He crossed his arms and shook his head with a low chuckle, “Man Bakubro I didn't take you for the superstitious type. Never thought a little ghost story would have you running for the hills.”

Izuku sucked in a breath, eyes growing wide in horror.

Oh, he was not what he thought he was doing.

Eye twitching, Kacchan lowered his head and narrowed his eyes, “What,” he said slowly, his voice low and frighteningly clam, “did you just say?”

Kirishima’s lips twitched again, undoubtedly trying to stop himself from grinning, he closed his eyes and shrugged, “It’s cool man! Nothing wrong with being superstitious, but don't worry! I’ll be sure to tell you and the squad all the cool stuff I found when I get back!” he called over his shoulder as he turned his back towards them, making his way over to the single bridge.

Izuku mentally cursed. Kirishima was doing exactly what he thought he was doing and one glimpse at Kacchan’s red face told him that Kiri had played him like a fiddle.

Pure unadulterated rage emitted from the blonde and sure enough much to Izuku’s dismay, the older boy took off after their friend shouting curses and threats at the top of his lungs.

Running his hands through his hair, the greenette looked towards Todoroki for help, but the other boy only shrugged and walked past him, intending to catch up with the other two.

All of Izuku’s instincts screamed and begged him to turn around and walk away. He already expressed his discomfort with the idea of wandering into some random town they knew next to nothing about, why should he blindly follow the idiots that were his classmates? Whatever happened next would be their responsibility. He should march himself straight back to Aizawa and the others and informed the proper authority what was happening and let them deal with it. This wasn't his problem.

But of course that wasn’t what happened. No matter how scared he was, no matter how much his entire being pleaded with him too, he couldn’t just run away and leave his friends to whatever danger the town possibly had waiting for them.

And so taking in a deep breath, Izuku Midorya closed his eyes and sent a silent prayer to up above then took off after his friends albeit on shaky legs. He sprinted past the shinto gate, ignoring the extreme shiver running down his back and the feeling of a thousand invisible eyes on him, keeping his own forward until he reached the large wooden gate that had been left wide open, giving off a false sense of welcome to any traveler who happened to stumble upon it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. Hopefully this chapter is a bit better? Idk I thought it was the first time I went over and edited it, but the more I read it the more I started to hate it. :,D I'm sure I'm not the only who does that with their writing, but God is it frustrating sometimes. Anyways I have a third chapter written and almost ready to post. With the way I'm going it'll probably either be posted tomorrow, but I make no promises.


	3. Visions and Notes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku gets trapped in a house and learns more about the family that used to live there

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So not only is this the longest chapter I've written yet, it's probably the most screwed pacing wise whoops, but hey at least it didn't take me six months to write a brand new chapter right? ^^;

The second his foot stepped passed the gate, Izuku keeled over, one hand resting against the wall for support while the other clutched at the fabric of his shirt, greedily sucking in as much air as humanly possible. It wasn't that much of a sprint and yet he was still out of breath. The others were right, he really needed to work out more. Maybe he should ask Iida if he could start joining him on his morning jogs when he got back.

 _If you get back_ , a voice in the back of his mind taunted.

Shaking his head free of such dark thoughts, Izuku still panting looked up and scanned his surroundings with weary eyes.

From what he could tell the houses were made up of the same dark wood of the trees from the forest, rotted and damaged from years of abuse by the elements and time. There were no roads or sidewalks, just dirt with a few stones here and there. Multiple ropes were strung from rooftops with unlit paper lanterns swaying slowly from side to side.

There was one house to his left, a couple to his right behind the gate and a few more up ahead along with a circular structure resting in the center, possibly a well? Kacchan, Kirishima, and Todoroki were nowhere in sight.

Izuku straightened with an annoyed huff and glanced at the house closest to him. It appeared to be in surprisingly good shape. The wood was probably warped and decomposed to all hell, but it didn’t look ready to collapse yet. Knowing Kirishima, he and Kacchan were probably already inside exploring and rifling through the place for something they could take back and show off to their other friends.

Soon enough there’s a loud bang followed by a booming voice from inside confirming his theory making Izuku chuckle. Todorki was probably already in there with them as well.

Stalking towards the door, Izuku reached out his hand and turned the knob intending to join his companions when a chilling voice whispered in his ear, low and gruff, “It’s him.”

Startled, Izuku jumped and whirled around his eyes wide and alert, but there was no one else around.

Swallowing down his anxiety, he quickly dismissed the voice as his wild imagination and turned back towards the door only to be met with a wrinkled face as pale as death and black and hollow eyes. With a shriek Izuku fell back flat on his butt then quickly flung his head up and gawked at the lanky figure completely dressed in white flickering in and out before him.

Time slowed as t-this _thing_ stepped towards him. Without thinking Izuku closed his eyes and held his arm in front of his face and felt a hand firmly grasp his wrist.

_A flash of white crosses his vision until it fades into a world of pitch black darkness. Confused, Izuku tries to move and figure out what happened only to realize he’s lying on his back, his wrists and ankles bound by tight ropes._

_Above him is a figure similar to the one that had grabbed him, dressed in all white. Izuku couldn’t make out much of their face, the upper half being obscured by shadows, but judging by their long hair and body build, he guessed they were female. He watched the girl’s full lips move, but all he could hear was static. Squinting his eyes Izuku saw tears rolling down the girl’s puffy cheeks. She clutched something tightly to her chest, and Izuku nearly choked on his own spit at the sharp knife she hesitantly held out over him right above his heart._

_Before Izuku could plead for his life, there’s another fierce flash and now Izuku can feel himself up right. The ropes on his wrists and ankles are still there, but he’s no longer tied down to the floor. The girl is now standing a few feet away, facing someone who wasn't there before, a man by the looks of it. His upper face was also concealed with shadows, but Izuku could clearly see the way his lips curled into a scowl as his hand darted forward, reaching for the knife the girl still held. She opened her mouth in a silent scream and instantly pulled the knife out of the man’s reach, but he roughly seized her by the shoulder and grabbed hold of the handle. He tried ripping the weapon out of her hands, but the girl refused to let go, tugging it back towards herself._

_This back and forth continues until there's one final flash and Izuku is finally on his feet. All he can see is the girl lying on the floor, unmoving, her face turned away from him. Without thinking Izuku rushes forward, but stops and covers his mouth in sheer terror. Embedded in her stomach is the knife, blood spilling from the wound and collecting into a red puddle on the floor beside her. Something clutches his shoulder and pulls him back before his vision goes black. The only thing he hears is a soul shattering scream._

Wheezing Izuku whips his head around frantically, sweat dripping down the sides of his face and forehead. With tears in his eyes, he lets out a shaky breath. He's back in the town. The figure from before is now long gone, but he's not alone.

Standing in front of the well(?) in the center of the town where no one should be standing is a familiar head of long white and grey hair spilled over a bright red kimono.

Anger and frustration wells up inside as Izuku stumbles to his feet, his fear temporarily forgotten, “Hey! You!” he shouts.

All this weird stuff started with that stupid dream he had with this girl. He was tired of whatever this was! He needed answers and needed them now!

Without replying, the girl turned, walked to the left and disappeared behind the house.

Grinding his teeth together, Izuku ran after her, but when he rounded the corner she was already gone. He kicked at a rock angrily and bit his tongue to stop himself from screaming then leaned his shoulder against the side of the house. Rubbing at his tired face, he closed his eyes and forced himself to take deep breaths, counting down from ten to calm himself.

What the heck was going on? What was that just now? A vision? A premonition? Whatever it was, it was freaking terrifying. The image of that knife lodged in that poor girl’s chest would forever haunt his mind.

Shivering, Izuku opened his eyes once more and gazed at the houses around him. The one next to him was about the same size as the one he was currently leaning against while the one in front of him was probably the biggest house he’s seen in this place so far, resting on an incline with stone stairs leading up to the entrance. The house to his right was decently sized but not nearly as big as the house on the hill and - wait a minute.

Izuku pushed himself off the wall. The house opposite of him had it’s door wide open. That has to be where the girl went!

Hesitantly he hovered around the entrance and peered inside. It was dark inside as expected, having been abandoned long ago there was most likely no power to be found anywhere around here. This whole town had probably been built way before such things as light bulbs or electricity were invented anyway.

Biting the inside of his cheek, Izuku furrowed his brows, and mentally went over his two options. He could either pull out his phone and use it’s flashlight to go inside on what was probably a fruitless search for the mystery girl or he could turn around, rejoin the others and see if he could finally convince them to leave.

The second option was the more logical one he knew. Going into an old long neglected building to find some girl he wasn't even sure, was real, was not only extremely stupid, but completely out of character for him. Yet he couldn't deny there was a tiny part of him that was curious about what he might find.

 _Just a few minutes, if I can’t find any sign of the girl then I'm out_ , he promised himself.

He pulled his phone from his back pocket and tapped the flashlight icon. A beam of light instantly appeared in front of him as he took one careful step into the house then another and another. Gradually he moved his phone around revealing he was in some kind of foyer with a sunken fireplace in the middle. In the far left corner, he could make out a staircase. Directing his light up he could see the open second floor, the edge protected by a safety rail.

Besides a sliding door behind the indoor fire pit and the dried up withered plants in cracked and broken pots, there wasn't anything else worth looking at. He could go investigate the door at the back of the house, but should he? It wasn't like anyone lived here anymore, so it’s not like he would be breaking and entering. Right?

No of course not, the door was left wide open after all and judging by the insane layers of dust and cobwebs everywhere, no one had been here for a very, very long time. Though thinking about it that way, if that girl from earlier had actually gone in here like he thought, shouldn’t there be some sign of her presence? Like footprints or spots where the dust had been disturbed or something? But there was none of that, from what he could tell nothing looked to be disturbed or out of place. Then again he didn’t know what this place had looked like beforehand, so it’s not like he could really make that call.

Izuku was too busy muttering to himself to notice the door behind him start moving back and forth on it’s own until it swung furiously shut with a loud slam, causing Izuku to nearly leap out of his skin with a cry of alarm. He swung around and gaped, bug eyed at the door, trying to process what the heck just happened.

After a beat Izuku flung himself forward, yanking at the handle with all his strength, but his efforts were to no avail. No matter how hard he pulled, the door wouldn’t budge.

Desperate, he began pounding his fists against the rigid frame repeatedly, “Todoroki!” he screamed hysterically at the top of his lungs, hoping one of his friends were wandering somewhere nearby to hear his cries, “Kirishima! Kacchan! Someone! I can’t get this stupid door to open! I’m trapped! Please, help!”

Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes as he gave the door one last punch, then slid down its frame, his forehead pressed against the rough and scratchy wood. One brief glance at his phone told him it’d be no help seeing as how there was still no service.

Shuddering, Izuku turned and leaned back against his only exit, the back of his head hitting it with a dull thump. He closed his burning eyes and reflected grimly on his poor choices that led him to his current predicament.

Really what was he thinking? Running off by himself like that without so much as a word to anyone else? And for what? To get answered from a girl he wasn't even certain was real in the first place? He was supposed to be smarter than this. What if that girl had been real, and this had been a trap? For all he knew he just willingly walked right into his death like the idiot Deku Kacchan kept calling him. But then how could he explain the dream, that apparition from earlier, the gruff voice, the ghastly vision? That couldn’t have all been his imagination right? Gods what he would give to have his notebooks with him right now so he could right this all down. Too bad he left his backpack on the bus.

A loud bang from the back of the house jolted Izuku out of his self-deprecating thoughts. With a nervous gulp, he got to his feet and clutched his phone up to his face as if it would shield him from whatever horror was in this terrible place.

“H-Hello?” He called out hesitantly, his entire body trembled in fear causing the light to shake as it illuminated the old dust covering the fireplace in front of him, “I-Is there someone t-there?”

Silence.

“U-Um, if someone is there, please come out,” He continued on anyway forcing himself to move, mindful of the fireplace, not wanting to accidentally trip and get covered in who knows how old soot, “I promise I won’t get mad or freak out or anything I swear!”

Carefully, he maneuvered over to the sliding door where he thought the noise had come from and tried to pull it back, but like the front door, it wouldn't move. Frowning, he took a step back, flickered his light down to the handle and was stunned to find a rather large and old looking lock with an odd symbol painted on. It was a bit faded, but Izuku could make out two reddish circles intertwined with one another. How odd. Something really important must be in there if the previous owner felt the need to lock the room with such a weird looking latch.

Briefly Izuku debated going upstairs to search for the key when another bang came from his right. With a shrill shout, he spun towards the noise and was dumbstruck when he saw there was a whole other room in front of him, it was pretty decently sized too, about as big as the foyer he was currently standing in.

How in the world could he have almost missed this? Sure he couldn’t have possibly been able to tell the other room existed from where he was standing at the entrance, but in hindsight he really should have known. The house did look like a horizontal L from the outside after all. Suddenly he was glad Kacchan wasn’t with him. He could only imagine the insults and rude comments that would be flung his way.

The new room resembled a living room in the way that there was a giant table in the middle taking up most of the room, with an old tea set resting comfortably in the middle. On the ground Izuku spotted the remains of a tea cup, shattered pieces spread out in front of the table. He wondered if this could have been what he heard but he quickly dismissed the thought. Glass shattering had a distinct sound, and what he heard was most definitely a bang like someone had thrown their entire body into a wall, but he couldn’t see anything in here that could have made a noise even remotely similar to that. 

As he took a step around the table to get a better look around the room, something on the table caught his eye. Behind the elegant and expensive teapot, something red peeked out. Curious Izuku moved closer and found a red notebook laying perfectly still on the table, just begging to be read.

Izuku felt a bit bad about invading the owner’s privacy, but Izuku couldn’t help his curiosity and he doubted the writer was around anymore to really care anyway. Still wanting to be at least a little bit respectful, Izuku picked up the book with the utmost care and gingerly flipped through the pages to read what was inside. The first entry he found was dated the fifthteenth of September with no year.

_It’s been a couple of weeks now since we moved to this old town. Aoki has been settling in well as I knew he would (buying this place was his idea after all) and while I had my reserves about it, knowing the town’s ill reputation and rumors surrounding it, I have to admit it’s been pretty therapeutic giving the home we chose new life with all the planets I’ve come to collect. “We’ll have an indoor greenhouse in no time,” Aoki told me in jest._

Well, that explained all the broken pots and dead plants.

_Maho still refuses to leave her room. I understand things have been difficult lately as it has been for us all with losing her little brother and the move, but I’m holding out hope that this change will be good for her. She has the whole town to explore and make her own. It’s gonna be just us here for a while._

Izuku blinked after reading the passage, amazed that a small family of three would want to live in a place like this all by themselves. Having lived in a large city where he was constantly being surrounded by other people all his life, he couldn't personally see the appeal. He felt for the daughter though, losing a loved one was hard enough as it was without being ripped away from the rest of your friends and family, especially if the girl was younger.

Flipping through the rest of the notebook yielded nothing else; the rest of the pages completely bare to which he found odd. Why would you have a journal if you were only going to write in it once? Maybe the other family members left their own notes lying around? It would be intriguing to get some more insight about what their lives were like living here.

Making sure he didn’t accidently miss anything, Izuku looked through the notebook one last time when something slipped in between the pages and fell onto the floor, startling him. He instantly lowered his flashlight, his eyes widening. A bronze key stared back at him with a large circle on the end that held a strange pattern engraved into it. Setting the book back down on the table, Izuku crouched to the floor to get a more proper look at the key. It felt cool beneath his fingertips and was definitely old if the splotches of rust were anything to go by.

He thought back to the locked door in the foyer, but after examining the wave like pattern on the hilt, he doubted this would open the room. Still, he figured it wouldn't hurt to take it with him anyway. Who knows, maybe there was a safe or something hidden in the house that held some rare treasure or some cool souvenir he could take back with him. Would make this crazy detor worth it that’s for sure.

Without much more thought, Izuku stood and pocketed the key, then returned to the foyer wanting to check the door again and see if it would open now, but went still when he heard the sound of footsteps coming from upstairs.

“H-Hello?!” He shouted, his voice cracking. The footsteps stopped.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Izuku took a deep breath, summoned his inner Kacchan then ran to the stairs and called up with more confidence then he felt, “Whoever you are, I’m coming up!”

Grabbing the guard rail, Izuku took the steps two at a time, and threw his phone in front of him, ready to catch the culprit who insisted on messing with him, half expecting it to be one of his friends playing a cruel prank this entire time. But as he reached the top of the stairs and threw his gaze down the hallway, he found no one. Not a single living soul. All he saw was a door to his left and another one straight ahead.

Growing frustrated, Izuku cursed to himself and ran a tried hand through his curly green hair. Well he was already up here so he might as well check out the upstairs, maybe his specter was hiding out in one of the rooms waiting for a good opportunity to jump out and scare the living daylights out of him.

Since it was the closest one to him, he decided to start with the room to his left. The door opened with a loud squeak that pretty much ruled out this being his tormentor's hiding place. There’s no way he wouldn't have heard that loud squeak from downstairs.

Out of everything he’d seen so far this room appeared to be the most ‘modern’ in terms of style. It was still outdated as heck, but at least this room had an actual bed, dresser, desk and other objects Izuku was more familiar with. Judging by the flower pattern on the bed sheets that were now discolored and ripped in multiple places he concluded this to be the room of the daughter the journal had mentioned.

Right as he crossed the room’s threshold his phone and by proxy his flashlight shut off, literally leaving him in the dark.

“No, no, no, not now!” Freaked, he slapped the back of his phone against his palm. As if that would magically revive a dead battery.

A pathetic whimper escaped him when his screen did finally light up but only to show him a white outline of a battery with a speck of red at the bottom, telling him what he already knew. His phone was completely dead. For a moment he stood still in the middle of the room in pitch black darkness, his labored breathing the only sound to fill the void. Unsure of what to do now.

Fumbling his way back down the stairs in the pitch dark was probably a bad idea. With his luck he’d slip and break his neck and frankly he did not want to test fate anymore then he already had today. But standing here all night wouldn’t do much for him either.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood straight up, snapping him out of his thoughts. The temperature in the room suddenly dropped as he felt someone else’s presence standing right behind him, but he didn't dare turn around and look them in the eye. Instead, he slammed his eyes shut and silently prayed to any higher power that was willing to listen, begging for whoever it was to either go away and leave him alone, or to get whatever they were planning over with.

After what seemed like hours the dark and opposing presence faded as the hairs on Izuku’s neck and arms began to flatten back against his skin. Slowly, he opened his right eye expecting to see a monster in his face ready to attack, but there was nothing of the sort. Opening both eyes, he turned and eyed the empty doorway. There was absolutely nothing there to justify his earlier panic. Smiling to himself, Izuku let out a small sigh of relief.

Not even a millisecond later a sense of deja-vu hit him as the door slammed shut. A scream ripped itself out of his throat, as Izuku leaped back and hit his back against the child's desk, his fists both grasping the painted wood like a lifeline. The sound of light footsteps and a young child’s laughter echoed down the hall towards the stairs.

Izuku breathed heavily with no hope of catching his breath. He wasn't sure how much more of this his poor heart could take. There was no way this could all be in his head or some prank in bad taste. It felt way too real and how could he explain the door slamming itself shut like that?! The front door could be explained away as a sudden gust of wind pushing it closed and him being trapped was probably because the wood so warped by years of abuse from the outside that it was stuck in place. But here? No. This house was ancient, there was no power or central air system, hell there weren't even any freaking windows in here! He couldn't blame this on some draft or wind from outside!

And then there were the footsteps and the child’s laughter, this place was abandoned and practically falling apart there was no way there were any children out here in the middle of nowhere much less in here to mess with him!

He tasted the salt of his tears before he felt them. If it hadn’t been for his white-knuckle grip on the desk, he would have already crumbled to the floor by now.

 _“The desk,”_ a calm soothing voice whispered in the back of his mind, _“search the desk.”_

If you asked him about this later he wouldn't be able to tell you what possessed him in this moment maybe adrenaline, maybe desperation, but despite being absolutely terrified out of his mind, Izuku forced his body to turn and ran his hands all over the top of the desk, but when that proved fruitless, he pulled open every single last drawer and searched until he got to the very last drawer. He felt his fingers brush over something very cold and cylinder and plucked it out, held it close to his face and squinted his eyes, until they adjusted to the darkness enough for him to tell what he was holding. When they did, he could've died of happiness right then and there.

It was a flashlight! He had found a flashlight!

Muttering a silent thankful prayer to whatever guardian angel was looking out for him, he felt all over the thing until he could feel a small bump on the otherwise smooth and straight surface and pushed down on it. Instantly it flicked to life, and a steady beam of solid light illuminated the desk in front of him with all it’s open and empty drawers.

Was he still scared? Absolutely, but at least now he had a chance to see whatever was messing with him before it struck again.

Despite the sneaking suspicion he had, Izuku tugged at the handle, hard with no luck. Great not only was he stuck in a spooky house he was now also stuck in an extremely creepy child’s bedroom. This was exactly how he wanted this trip to go.

Disappointed, he leaned back against the desk with his arms crossed and his eyes glued to his feet.

What were the others currently doing he wondered? Were they even still in the town or had they finally come to their senses and returned to the bus without him? God, he could practically hear Aziawa laying into them about going against his instructions and wandering off when he specifically told them not too and ooohh when he realized Izuku wasn't with them? He shuddered at the absolute look of death his teacher would probably throw their way and him when they came to rescue his sorry butt.

If they even realize you’re gone. That same venom from earlier spat.

Scowling at the thought, Izuku shook his head and pushed himself off the desk. He waved his flashlight around the room figuring that if he had already found something useful in here might as well look and see if he could find anything else that could possibly help him get the heck out of here.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the dresser and thought it was as good a place as any to start. He pulled apart the twin doors to reveal a wide selection of different colors and patterns of fabric ranging from cute little dresses to dark colored shirts, jeans, and some sweaters for the colder months. On the surface there didn’t seem to be anything of interest, but just as he was about to turn away and search elsewhere, he noticed something at the bottom of the wooden box.

Getting a better look with his flashlight, he found another notebook, this one baby blue with pink, green, and yellow flowers decorating the front, kanjis messily written in what looked like a red marker spelled “Maho”. Well, if he needed anymore proof that this was in fact the daughter's room this was it, he thought dryly.

He doubts reading it would really help him with his current predicament, but what could it hurt?

Unlike the mother’s entry, there were no dates and writing was very sloppy. The girl must have been at least nine years old at the time of writing this.

_1._

_Mama gave me this book and told me I could write whatever I wanted in it and that no one but me would ever see what’s inside. She said it was like a secret that only me and my diary would ever share. I told her I didn't want it; I only wanted to share my secrets with Yuu, but Mama told me that I could still do that with this book, that whatever I wrote you would be able to see it. She said that whenever I was sad or lonely I could write in this book and even though you would never be able to write back that you would still see it. I don't believe her but if there is a chance that you can see this Yuu I miss you. I miss you so much. Why did you have to go? Why did you have to leave me and Mama and Papa? It’s not fair! I wanna be where you are! Please come back. Please don't leave me behind!_

Wow. That...that was terribly sad. Poor girl. Izuku felt so bad for her, but he was glad the mother tried to help. It reminded him of his own mother. When he first started getting bullied by Kacchan and the other kids when they were younger he would almost always come home crying, then one day after his mother had calmed him down she gave him his first notebook and told him that he could write anything he wanted in there and it helped a lot. It became a habit to write down all his thoughts and theories no matter how absurd that he still has to this day. He only hoped it helped this poor girl too.

He skimmed the next few pages, there wasn't much besides the girl complaining about being bored and they're being nothing to do in the town which Izuku thought was more than fair. He could easily see himself losing his mind if it were him in this situation especially at that age.

It didn’t look like he was going to get any more valuable information, but he kept skimming through the pages contents cause hey you never know.

Maho begins to write about other people in the town that only she can see to which Izuku chalks up to being the young girl’s imagination brought on by loneliness and boredom as anyway would. She then mentions that some of the houses like the one at the top of the hill next door being locked and overheard her father saying something about them needing a special kind of key to gain access inside which reminds Izuku of the key that he had found. Could that be one of the keys the father mentioned? He bookmarked that thought and flipped towards the end of the diary and finds what seems to be the last entry.

_34._

_Mama and Papa are fighting again. I don't know why they keep fighting so much but they are so loud I just want them to stop. They used to never fight like this. I don't know why they are so mad at each other. Mama keeps screaming something about Papa’s camera, evil spirits and that the town is cursed. She wants to leave but Papa wont let us. I wanna go home. I don't like it here anymore. The people are mean and scary, but Mama and Papa always ignore me when I tell them about the horrible things they say to me!_

_I just heard Mama scream and Papa’s laughing._

_I’m so scared. I can hear Papa coming upstairs, I’m going to hide under my bed._

_Yuu please save me._

It ended there.

Izuku slammed the book shut and threw it on the floor. Even if he didn't know the full context, what was written was disturbing enough for him to get the picture of what happened. He really didn't want to be here anymore.

With shaky limbs Izuku turned around and paused to find that the previously closed, locked door was now wide open. Oh, was he allowed to leave now he thought bitterly.

Cautiously Izuku approached the entrance to the room and stuck the upper half of his body out, quickly shining the light back and forth making sure it was clear before he fully stepped out, shutting the door behind him in case it wanted to slam itself shut and scare the ever-loving crap out of him again.

A high-pitched giggle made Izuku jump and face the end of the hall where another door sat firmly shut. This was the last room in the house besides the one he couldn’t get into downstairs that he hadn’t yet explored and honestly he wanted it to stay that way, but he didn’t really have a choice in the matter.

Wanting to get this over with as soon as possible, Izuku marched down the hall and threw the door open to what had to be the parents room. A large king sized bed and two dressers, a him and hers he presumed, lined up against the wall on opposite sides of the bed.

Wasting no time, he searched through the smaller dresser first, but found nothing of interest, so moved over to the nightstand where he found a third journal that he assumed to belong to the father due to it’s bland black cover.

Truthfully he wasn’t sure if he wanted to read it or not. Part of him wanted to know what was going through the father’s mind when he snapped, but the part of him wasn't sure he could handle anymore mental strain today.

So for now, he tossed the book on the bed, watched it bounce and open to a random page, but for now chose to ignore it in favor of fishing through the rest of the nightstand. He opened the single drawer with a little bit more force then was probably necessary and stopped dead in his tracks.

Lying at the bottom was a single photo of a tall man wearing a brown yukata with a bald head standing with a wide, proud looking smile on his face, beside him a pretty slim woman with dark hair pulled back into a messy bun stood her hands resting on the shoulders of a little girl with the same dark hair of the woman’s and a little boy with short, light hair holding the girl’s hand. This must have been the family that lived here before…

Gently, Izuku picked up the picture to examine it more carefully. They looked so happy here completely oblivious to the tragedy that would soon strike.

Mindful Izuku respectfully placed the picture on top of the nightstand and turned to pick up the father’s journal and reluctantly read the randomly opened page.

_Maho came running into the house again today with tears in her eyes, wailing about the other people in the town being mean and frightening her. I tried to console her and tell her she was just imagining things, that we were the only people here but that just seemed to make her even more hysterical. I could see in Kaede’s worried expression the question I’ve been asking myself for a couple of weeks now. Did I make a mistake in buying this town? I thought the rumors and stories of hauntings and curses were just that rumors and stories, but lately I haven't been able to shake the feeling of being watched when I walk through these empty streets and yesterday Kaede swore she saw a shadow of a person disappear into the house right next us even though that place has been sealed tight since we moved in. Could this town really be haunted? Maybe tomorrow I’ll break out the Camera Obscura and see if I catch anything._

“The Camera Obscura?” Izuku muttered to himself thoughtfully. Why did that name sound so familiar to him? He turned to the next page.

_I can’t believe it. The camera, it actually worked! I actually managed to catch the photo of a malicious spirit! Of course I had heard the stories from my grandmother about these cameras; they were created by a man named Dr. Kunihiko Asou and were designed to look past the mortal world and capture things that should be impossible. Very few of these cameras were made and this camera, in particular, has been passed down my family for generations but I couldn't once have ever imagined that it actually worked. I am beyond astonished with this discovery. I wonder what else I can capture with this camera….._

No way! Izuku had heard of these before! That’s why the same sounded so familiar! He remembered spending long nights doing so much research on Dr. Asou and his numerous studies in mystical science after coming across him in some random forms online. Even though Izuku didn’t believe in the supernatural, he was absolutely fascinated by the idea of a camera that could catch what the eye couldn't see. Dr. Asou and his assistants had made several different cameras, all of them vastly different from one another, and from what Izuku could remember only seven of them currently still existed somewhere in the world becoming extremely rare collectables that were very hard to get a hold of. The idea that this guy actually had one had Izuku vibrating with excitement. He completely overlooked the rest of the fairly ominous and creepy journal entry.

Could the camera still be here he wondered? Maybe in the other dresser? That was the only place he hadn’t checked.

Excited for the first time since he got off the bus and entered this living nightmare, Izuku rushed to the other side of the bed and threw the last dresser open. His eyes widened, and his mouth nearly dropped to the floor. There it was sitting right on the shelf staring back at him. The Camera Obscura.

He couldn't believe his eyes. He had seen pictures online but seeing it in person was a whole different story. Astonished Izuku held out his hand and reached for the camera. The moment his fingers made contact with the cool mental his eyes widened, his consciousness pulled back and away from himself.

_He was suddenly back in the foyer, the scene black and white before him. The same man and woman from the photo he found were right in front of him, but they didn’t seem to notice him._

_The mother seemed to be yelling as she pointed her finger at her husband, but Izuku couldn’t be sure. Her lips were moving yet she made no sound. It looked like the father was yelling back, staring down at his wife with this wide unnerving grin that sent a cold chill down Izuku’s spine. The woman knocked the man back and like someone had hit the unmute button on a remote, he could hear her speak loud and clear with an echo._

_“We have to leave this cursed town! Akio please! I’m begging you, think of our daughter! This town is messing with all of our heads!” The woman grabbed her husband's shoulders, shaking him and it was then that Izuku noticed something clutched in the man’s hand._

_Izuku wanted to shout, to warn the woman of what he knew was to come, but before he could open his mouth the man grabbed his wife by the shoulder, held the knife above both their heads and swung the weapon down. Thankfully Izuku’s vision blacked out before he could see the brutal attack follow through but he wasn't spared the woman’s agonizing scream._

_When his vision came back to him, he saw the woman on the floor; her eyes wide open, her mouth open in a silent scream and her chest covered in blood. The man stood over her laughing like a maniac. As if he were watching some messed up movie that was missing a few scenes, there was a sudden skip and now the man was standing in front of his daughter’s door, his grin wider and more demonic. Izuku longed to run in and do something to help the little girl but he stood paralyzed at the top of the stairs, unable to move. He was completely helpless as he watched the demented man force his way into his daughter’s room and whisper ever so softly in a chilling voice, “Found you,” followed by another blood curdling scream._

Gasping Izuku retracted his hand and fell to the floor panting hard, his forehead drenched in a cold sweat. A whimper fell from his lips, as he clutched his head and curled in on himself. He knew, he knew the minute he read that little girl's diary that the father had snapped and killed his family, but knowing and actually seeing it were two different things.

That was it. That was the last straw. Screw this whole messed up place. He was done. IF the others were still here then he didn’t care what he had to do or say they were leaving and they were leaving now.

With a new found resolve, Izuku wiped his tears with the back of his hand and frantically felt the floor around him until he found the flashlight then stood. The light brought the camera back into view still sitting on the shelf, taunting him. Briefly he debated taking the camera with him out of spite but ultimately decided against it. He wanted no memory of this, as soon as he and the others were out he was gonna bury this place and everything with it in the back of his mind to never see the light of day again.

Izuku turned, ready to sprint to the front door and tear the dear the damn thing off its hinges, but when his flashlight shined down the hallway he felt his breath get caught in his throat. Standing right at the end of the hall, right at the top of the staircase, blocking his only exit was a man. He easily towered over Izuku, his light only showing him from his flat musical chest down. His neck and face were obscured by the darkness, but Izuku didn’t need to see the man’s face to know who this was. He’d recognize that brown yukata that would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his days anywhere.

The man took his sweet time making his way down the hallway. With each step he made, Izuku took two steps back and felt his stomach drop when he felt his back hit the open dresser, watching helplessly as the same man he had witnessed murder his entire family walk into the bedroom, a knife covered in dried blood held tightly in his hand.

Big-fat tears fell from Izuku’s eyes as he watched the man take that final step towards him, the knife raised far above his head. Izuku slammed his eyes shut, awaiting his end.

“The camera!” A female voice shouted at him, “grab the camera!”

Snapping his eyes open Izuku turned, nabbed the camera and dived to the side, barely dodging the knife that was about to swing down onto his head.

Urgently Izuku regained his balance and faced the man who stood straight back up, his neck snapping, fixing his gaze to Izuku with that same insane grin he had when he killed his wife and daughter.

Remembering what he knew about the camera, how it was supposed to capture what should by all means be impossible, Izuku held it up to his eye with quivering hands and pushed the button on the top. A flash lit up the room for a split second and the man stumbled backwards, hollowing in pain as if Izuku had shot him.

Izuku took that opportunity to dart out the door and flew down the stairs, sobbing. He dashed to the front door, and it opened without much resistance. Crying out in relief, Izuku fled the house without looking back, petrified of seeing that Cheshire grin following behind him.


End file.
